Northwest Dive Club

I've had this DIR steak knife on my harness for 3 years now. I've never used it. My spearfishing buddies are forever making fun of the blunt serrated rusty blade that looks like it was stolen from a Sizzler. Of course their knives are strapped to their calf, spendy, shiny and made from the latest trendy alloy. Today I finally got a chance to cut something underwater with it. It performed admirably in the face of some nylon braid! What I didn't know was that my co-worker was filming me with work's point and shoot.

[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/5737676[/vimeo]

(Grrrrrr! Stupid URL)

The task at hand was to recover this buoy we have moored in 300 feet of water that sits 60 feet down. The buoy is equipped with a wave height and current monitoring sensor. We grabbed it to download it's onboard data and swap batteries. It's a bit of a complicated process that includes shackling weights onto this very buoyant monster... then shackling a big float onto the anchor line. The thing had been out there for about a month and a half and accumulated a moderate amount of growth. First the slime comes, then the barnacles, then the fish. Anything we put in the water for an extended period of time without anti-fouling paint becomes a FAD. Continuing with my x-treme scuba narcissistic rampage here's a photo of me rigging up the buoy at 60 feet.





Shortly afterward at another location we were buzzed by curious mahi:


In the later afternoon we took one of the design engineers visiting from CA for a swim on one of our vehicles. I was on deck as the safety observer when the three guys in the water signaled frantically that they wanted to be picked up by the boat. I guess they spotted a pretty good sized hammer head. I'm a little sad I didn't get to see it.

Aloha hard,

-Eric

I'm so glad my steak knife isn't the only one that looks like that....

But you'd think he's learn how to properly embed the video....

I try to keep mine a little cleaner than that. I'd hate to grab it when I need it and break the blade off. (did it once, learned my lesson)

Nwbrewer wrote:But you'd think he's learn how to properly embed the video....

I try to keep mine a little cleaner than that. I'd hate to grab it when I need it and break the blade off. (did it once, learned my lesson)

I take one of those green 3m scrubber pads to it every 10th dive or so, clean most of the rust off, spray it down with silicone spray, and jam it back in the sheath.

I think it's overdue for a cleaning, though...

I got a special knife - it don't rust, and I can shave with it.

Sounder wrote:I got a special knife - it don't rust, and I can shave with it.

Yes yes yes we know. Are you still showing your Bensix blade everywhere you go or has the novelty worn off? Or did you just run out of people to boast to?

-Eric

Sockmonkey wrote:

Sounder wrote:I got a special knife - it don't rust, and I can shave with it.

Yes yes yes we know. Are you still showing your Bensix blade everywhere you go or has the novelty worn off? Or did you just run out of people to boast to?

-Eric

I'm just making sure everyone who's seen it already has a second chance now to spend more time with it now that the knife paparazzi have moved onto other things.

You should really check it out and try it sometime.

Well, I won't comment about alternative cutting devices, but one idea is that since it doesn't get used often why not dip the blade in hot wax to seal it. When you deploy it the wax won't interfere with cutting but should keep the blade rust-free while it's in the pouch. By the way, I have a serious issue with webbing sheaths. I can not think of a worse way to store a cutting instrument. The webbing acts like a sponge keeping the blade neither dry nor wet, but in a damp mixed moisture/air environment much of the time. There is NOTHING that will promote corrosion better than an air/water mixed interface. When steels are being tested for corrosion resistance one of the common tests is to actually wet a cloth in salt-water, wring it out, and wrap the steel in it. Basically a webbing sheath in other words.

-Ben

airsix wrote:Well, I won't comment about alternative cutting devices, but one idea is that since it doesn't get used often why not dip the blade in hot wax to seal it. When you deploy it the wax won't interfere with cutting but should keep the blade rust-free while it's in the pouch. By the way, I have a serious issue with webbing sheaths. I can not think of a worse way to store a cutting instrument. The webbing acts like a sponge keeping the blade neither dry nor wet, but in a damp mixed moisture/air environment much of the time. There is NOTHING that will promote corrosion better than an air/water mixed interface. When steels are being tested for corrosion resistance one of the common tests is to actually wet a cloth in salt-water, wring it out, and wrap the steel in it. Basically a webbing sheath in other words.

-Ben

Kydex!

Can we talk about trim?

scottsax wrote:I'm so glad my steak knife isn't the only one that looks like that....

i tried vinegaring mine and scrubbing it with a green scour pad...and it didn't do much....

good to know that it still works after 3 years....and the handle is attached to the blade.

I pulled my knife out after the last gear rinse and scrubbed off all but one or two tiny rust spots. I'll give it a good spray down with silicon spray, and it should last for another few months before I have to repeat the process...

Nwbrewer wrote:

airsix wrote:Well, I won't comment about alternative cutting devices, but one idea is that since it doesn't get used often why not dip the blade in hot wax to seal it. When you deploy it the wax won't interfere with cutting but should keep the blade rust-free while it's in the pouch.

I have found wax to be a great way of dealing with corrosion as well! hard zipper wax seems to do the trick and is easier to deal with than melting wax, I just put an even coat over the blade and reapply on occasion... minimal rust, the blade is not so nice and shiney though.

g

duplicate...

Does any one know of a non rusting version of DIR style knife. Be it titanium or stainless. I tried the cut off steak knife but didn't like it, never got the sheath right either.

Look at the ezzycut trilobite. The video is very impressive

what's wrong with your sheath?

grease it up (silicon grease like dow 111 is great) and try not to store it wet in the sheath.

Seattle Marine sells Victornox brand net knives with blunt tips for less than $10.